"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed - for lack of a better word - is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms - greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind." - Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's Wall Street.

"You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out." - Billionaire financial guru Warren Buffet.

Above this lie two contrasting quotes that act as a “before and after” of the world's current financial malaise. The first, despite being written by Stone to expose the conceits of the so-called "Masters of the Universe" by turning them into a gruesome Hollywood bad guy, became a cult phrase along those who worked in the financial centres of the world. Some shared Gekko's beliefs and, it seems, some shared his business practices too.

The second was made in 2001, at a time when the US economy was suffering the dot.com crash's effect. That seems a light shower compared to the current storm yet in the light of current affairs, Buffet’s wise words could not be more pertinent now.

Both seem readily attachable to sport's recent history too. Manchester City's £100m bid for Kaka was the apex of decades of spiralling transfer fees and wages. Until the next time, that is. Though that may be some time off, discounting the extravagance of Eastlands' oil-rich Arab masters.

Cricket's tide came out when "Sir" Allen Stanford became the subject of federal investigation. Other sportspeople are affected too. Golfer Vijay Singh has been sponsored by the formerly dissident billionaire for some time and little Michael Owen last year came out with this statement: "Stanford is a company that has a solid track record in financial services and wealth management. I'm proud to be associated with the Stanford brand and delighted they've asked me to serve as one of their global ambassadors." Maybe not so proud now...

At present, few footballers are reported to have been caught out by the Stanford wave. Though we may yet hear of a few. America's elite has found itself wracked by the Madoff scandal, minimum deposit $1m. With all those wages washing around, there may be a few football people who have been stung, if not by the two scandals mentioned here then by the next one. And there will be a next one, possibly in Europe.

What of football clubs? The Premier League's big (no longer top) four are all leveraged by debt in their own way. Arsenal took out a mega mortgage to pay for the Emirates while Chelsea owe their owner £339.8m and it would have been more had Abramovich not decided to convert the same amount again into shares in the club. Liverpool's RBS/Wachovia loan expires in July after a hefty refinancing bridge in January while Manchester United's debts were last year placed at £764m with Companies House in the UK. And those are businesses that have a chance of turning a profit...ok, maybe not Chelsea if they keep sacking bosses like they have been.

Below them we have the likes of West Ham, Portsmouth, Spurs (whose owner lost a cool billion on Bear Sterns' collapse) not to mention those clubs in the Championship no longer able to feed off the TV megadeals that can maintain an air of solvency. Over in Spain, Valencia are in financial trouble and will have to sell off their best players this summer, some of whom have been unpaid in recent weeks. Should any of those TV companies be unable to meet their obligations, and rumours gather apace about that, then revenues would suffer and bills would surely go unpaid.

Consider also the shadowy profiles of many of the prospective club owners attracted to the game in the last few years. Thaksin Shinawatra was last week removed as Manchester City Honorary Life President. Being a fugitive on tax charges who is no longer allowed into several countries was enough for City to think he might not be a good name to have in the matchday programme. Prior to that, despite a multitude of serious allegations against him, he was obviously just the figurehead a progressive club wanted. Thaksin sold up having put barely a penny of his own cash into the club; another product of recent times has been to expose reportedly wealthy individuals and companies as hocked up to the eyeballs or actually with very few assets of their own.

Sport is often said to mirror life yet football has been living outside reality for some time. In choosing to become a big business it must surely follow the pattern of the ailing world economy's other business. That tide could be coming out soon and with it, some ugly private parts could be on display.

Thanks to Ajay S for reminding me of that speech on our Podcast's Facebook page.